TreaTy, Lands & resources deparTmenT

Tsleil-Waututh Nation

assessmenT of the Trans mounTain pipeLine and

Tanker expansion proposaL

WE STAND HERE TOGETHER as Tsleil-Waututh

people and we say ‘no.’ We say ‘no’ the risk is too

great. Our obligati on is not to oil. Our obligati on is to our land, our water, our people, our life, our

snəwayəɬ. According to our snəwayəɬ, our law, this

project represents a risk that we the Tsleil-Waututh

people, are not willing to take.” 1

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Tsleil-Waututh representati ves at the 2014 NEB hearing.

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1Oral Aboriginal traditi onal evidence given by Leah George-Wilson on October 16, 2014, during the Nati onal Energy Board’s hearing for the TMEX proposal, held in Chilliwack, Briti sh Columbia.

execuTiVe summary

The Tsleil-Waututh Nati on has a sacred, legal obligati on to protect, defend, and steward the water, land, air, and re-

sources of our territory. Our stewardship obligati on includes the responsibility to maintain or restore conditi ons that provide the environmental, cultural, spiritual, and economic foundati on for our nati on and community to thrive.

The decline of Burrard Inlet was evident by 1885 aft er herring were massively over-harvested and became locally exti nct. By 1972 when harvest of bivalves like clams, oysters, and mussels was banned, cumulati ve eff ects of urban, commercial, and industrial development had exceeded what is allowable under Tsleil-Waututh law. The best indicator of

this is that our subsistence economy was devastated, leaving us without the natural resources we once depended upon

for food or trade like salmon, herring, clams, and birds.Aft er thousands of years of supporti ng our Tsleil-Wau-

tuth way of life, in less than 200 years key marine resources in Burrard Inlet were scarce, contaminated, or made inacces-sible. It is essenti al to know both the historical context and the compromised environmental integrity that exists today in order to understand what our stewardship obligati on requires of us.

While Tsleil-Waututh is acti vely involved in responsible development in our territory, our nati on cannot consent to new development proposals that further contribute to

cumulati ve eff ects, threaten our objecti ves for marine stewardship, and delay or

deny re-establishment of our subsistence economy. To do so would be contrary

to our stewardship

obligati on.Tsleil-Waututh has a Stewardship Policy that is an

expression of our inherent jurisdicti on and law. It mandates a review of all proposed water, land, and resource policies, plans, and developments inside what is referred to as our Consultati on Area (see Map). Assessments carried out under the Stewardship Policy provide us with the informati on we require to make informed decisions on whether to consent to a proposal or withhold support.

In December 2013, Kinder Morgan Canada fi led an applicati on with the Nati onal Energy Board for the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker expansion (TMEX) proposal, which would triple the volume of crude oil moved along the existi ng pipeline route. Approximately 70% of the diluted bitumen, or dilbit, transported would be shipped from the Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C. This would lead to a roughly seven-fold increase in the frequency of tanker departures from Burrard Inlet, from about once a week to at least one every day.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nati on has assessed the TMEX proposal in accordance with our Stewardship Policy. The

assessment was required because many components of the proposed TMEX fall inside our Consultati on Area and have the potenti al to aff ect us. For example, the Westridge Marine Terminal lies less than two kilometres across the water from the main Tsleil-Waututh Reserve and the wake of every arriving or departi ng tanker strikes our shoreline(see photo on next page).

The Table on the following page provides a descripti on of a representati ve set of Tsleil-Waututh ti tle, rights, and interests threatened by the TMEX proposal.

Tsleil-Waututh are the “People of the Inlet” and a disti nct Coast Salish nati on whose territory includes Burrard Inlet. The Tsleil-Waututh people occupied, governed, and acted as stewards of our territory prior to contact, at contact (AD 1792), at the Briti sh Crown’s asserti on of sovereignty (AD 1846), and

conti nue to do so today. Our ancestors maintained villages in eastern Burrard Inlet, exclusively occupied and defended the area, and intensively used all the natural resources there, especially marine and interti dal resources.

TsLeiL-WauTuTh

TiTLe, righTs, and inTeresTsTiTLe, righT, or inTeresT descripTion

Archaeological and Cultural

Heritage Sites

The right to preserve and protect sensitive sites and to ensure they are kept physically intact

Contemporary Economy The right to derive benefit from the territory and pursue economic development opportunities in a variety of ways, related or unrelated to natural resources

Cultural or Spiritual Practices and Places

The right to access important places with the assurance that they will be physically and culturally intact, without disturbances of the view, violation of privacy, noise intrusions, polluted water, or contaminated sediment

Cultural Transmission The right to access sites for activities, such as resource harvest, that foster elder-youth interaction and provide elders with opportunities to share history, knowledge, traditional ways, and skills with youth

Cultural Travel The right to safe, unobstructed travel throughout Burrard Inlet

Environmental Integrity The right to an environment that is not significantly degraded and is well within its capacity to sustain a robust subsistence economy and the Tsleil-Waututh people as a nation

Environmental Stewardship The right and responsibility to manage natural resources and the environment in Burrard Inlet

Individual and Community Health The right to conditions conducive to healthy bodies, minds, and spirits—that is, to the intertwined environmental, cultural, spiritual, social, and economic conditions that ensure the well-being of individuals and of the community as a whole

Marine Fish and Wildlife Habitat and

Species

The right to a healthy, diverse, and interconnected habitat that supports diverse and abundant species free from contamination

Subsistence Economy, including

Resource Access and Harvest or Use

The right to access and use natural resources for ceremonial, cultural, spiritual, subsistence, and economic purposes including as staple foods for the living community and for our ancestors, and the right to sell or trade these resources

Title and Governance The right to possess our territory and exclusively occupy and use it for the benefit of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, exercising authority and jurisdiction over its water, land, air, and resources in accordance with Tsleil-Waututh law

Tsleil-Waututh Benefit The right and responsibility to steward the territory for the benefit of past, present, and future generations

Tsleil-Waututh Reserve The right to environmental, cultural, and socio-economic conditions that pose no harm to our reserve or its infrastructure

Water The right to clean water, free from pollution, for drinking and for ceremonial, cultural, spiritual, subsistence, and economic purposes

Table

as part of our assessment, Tsleil-Waututh commissioned fi ve expert reports related to the TMEX proposal. The internati onally recognized experts reviewed the risk, response, and consequences of potenti al oil spills in Burrard Inlet. Their major fi ndings included:

» Implementati on of the TMEX proposal will make oil spills in Burrard Inlet more likely.

» Spilled oil has the potenti al to foul every corner of Burrard Inlet and most of it will land on the nearest beaches.

» Less than half of the volume of spilled oil can be cleaned up even under ideal circumstances like those found in Burrard Inlet.

» Any delay in spill cleanup response will decrease the

total volume of oil recovered signifi cantly.» Dilbit is likely to sink in Burrard Inlet, especially

during late spring and summer when the Fraser River is fl ooding, and sending freshwater and sediment into Burrard Inlet (see photo above).

» Small spills can cause signifi cant, long lasti ng environ-mental damage especially to interti dal habitats like shellfi sh beaches and eelgrass beds.

» Large spills will be an environmental catastrophe including killing up to 500,000 birds.

» A large spill has the potenti al to expose over one million residents around Burrard Inlet to acute health eff ects from toxic air emissions.

The assessment described the seriousness of the potenti al eff ects of the TMEX proposal on Tsleil-Waututh ti tle, rights, and interests, including:

» The consequences of spilled oil are dire for Tsleil-

Waututh sensiti ve sites, habitats, and species, and for our subsistence economy, cultural acti viti es, and contemporary economy.

» Any delay in spilled oil clean up response will increase

the negati ve eff ects and consequences.» The direct eff ects of marine shipping like shoreline ero-

sion add to the eff ects and consequences of spilled oil amplifying the negati ve eff ects of the TMEX proposal.

» The eff ect of the TMEX proposal on Tsleil-Waututh cultural acti viti es is as large as if not larger than its eff ect on natural resources.

» The Tsleil-Waututh Nati on cannot accept the increased risks, eff ects, and consequences of even another small incident like the 2007 Westridge or 2015 MV Marathas-

sa oil spills, let alone a large spill.

» Implementati on of the TMEX proposal will 1) slow or deny achievement of Tsleil-Waututh marine stew-ardship objecti ves and 2) violate Tsleil-Waututh law because it will undermine our stewardship obligati ons.

The assessment concluded that the TMEX proposal does not represent the best use of Tsleil-Waututh territory and

its water, land, air, and resources to sati sfy the needs of our ancestors, and the needs of present and future generati ons. It has the potenti al to deprive past, current, and future gen-erati ons of our community control and benefi t of the water, land, air, and resources in our territory. The assessment

recommends that Chief and Council conti nue to withhold Tsleil-Waututh Nati on’s support for the TMEX proposal.

The full assessment report and expert reports are available at: twnsacredtrust.ca.

Maj. J.S. Matt hews’ 1932 Map of “Slailwit Tuth,” City of

Vancouver Archives

Outer Harbour, 2015, aft er MV Marathassa oil spill

Westridge Marine Terminal from Tsleil-Waututh Reserve

This map is a living document and is intended to be amended and refi ned over ti me. It is not an expression of the locati on of Tsleil-Waututh aboriginal ti tle, rights, or interests. The data used to produce this map originate from many sources and are presented without prejudice. This map is the property of the Tsleil-Waututh Nati on and may not be reproduced without writt en permission. Sources of spati al data for this map include Tsleil-Waututh Nati on, BC Government, Government of Canada, Integrated Cadastral Informati on Society, Metro Vancouver. Map produced May 2015 by the Tsleil-Waututh Nati on.

3075 Takaya Drive North Vancouver, BC V7H 3A8

TeL 604 929 3454 Fax 604 929 4714

emaiL info@twnation.cawww.twnation.ca

TreaTy, Lands & resources deparTmenT

Tsleil-Waututh Nation

Sacred TrustINITIATIVE